1a. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of mounting arrangements for inserting tubes into widely spaced end plates of large exchanges, condensers and coolers.
1B. Description of the Prior Art
In the construction of large heat exchange installations, for example, condensers and coolers used in large power plants, the insertions of the cooling tubes is very precise and expensive with regard to both the kind of labor and the cost of labor. Large condensers have two apertured end plates disposed at a wide distance of about 12 meters and these plates are provided with receiving holes for the tubes and the condenser is also provided with several supporting walls disposed between the end plates and these are also provided with the same perforation pattern as the end plates. The tubes are mounted from the direction of one of the outside surfaces of the end plates and the tubes are inserted through prealigned holes of the tube plates and of the intermediate supporting walls. In the case where manual labor is employed several mechanics have to be used at the same time. In view of the very large number of tubes that are to be inserted in the usual large condensers, generally up to about 80,000 tubes are provided -- the insertion of the tube takes a great deal of manpower and is very strenuous. In this difficult type of mounting it is particularly critical that the tubes do not undergo unduly deep or somewhat spiralshaped scratches and running furrows or grooves as a result of insertion. This damage generally takes place at the not cleanly worked tube plates or at holes in the supporting wall, and may hardly be noticeable by the mechanics working manually, but may lead to premature corrosion damage in the case of relatively thin-walled cooling tubes and also leads to problems of sealing.